Midterm: The 5-Step Critical Process (Analysis 1)

Fortnite

Description: Fortnite is an online Battle Royale video game developed by Epic games released on
July 25, 2017. Fortnite is a third person shooter and having the ability to be able to play in 5
different game modes. One of them being “Battle Royale” being a competitive shooter between 100
players as they drop from a moving battle bus. Then player must survive until the end, as the play
area slowly shrinks. Players have no weapons or material when landing, the only thing they have is a
pickaxe. Players must find weapons laying around or open “treasure boxes” that contain weapons,
bandages or ammo. When collecting building material players pickaxe, trees, cars, and brick
buildings. Its important that player collect building material in order to build “their own walls, ramps
and platforms, earning a competitive advantage over their competitors” (Esport League). When a
player wins, they are displayed with ‘Victory Royale’ sign and given a boost of XP. Also, players
can celebrate by dancing, this is a way to mock the losing player.

Analysis: Epic games has done an excellent job with Fortnite. With Fortnite having over 250 million
players and the numbers keep increasing (Fortnite Insider). It was a game that has had a rapidly
increase in its players but for the past months Fortnite has rapidly lost their players and fans are
seeing Fortnite slowly die. There are many reasons why Fortnite has a large decrease in its players,
one of its problem is it’s toxic fanbase. We can all agree that Fortnite has one of the most toxic fan-
bases out of any game, at the moment. Being the world’s most popular game means that it will have
its fair share with trolls and hackers. Fortnite has been overexposed to the world through the media.
“Attracting annoying little kids influenced by egotistical streamers, immature teens and stupid adults
who ruin the game for others” (Basra pg.1). Not to mention, the massive amount of Fortnite click
bait on platforms such as YouTube, but the majority of the players consists of normal people, but if
you’ve played the game there is almost no doubt that you’ve come across this. Then, there are other
games like Call of Duty and CSGO that have their fair share of toxicity. “A game that prides itself
on being one that is child-friendly shouldn’t have this bad of a community” (Ben). Another
challenge, Fortnite faces is the skill gap. In Fortnite, all skill types of players are put head to head,
resulting in first time players getting demolished by veteran of the game. This has turned players
heads away and in not wanting to give Fortnite another chance.

Interpretation: Fortnite isn’t ignoring their toxic community. Their rules have gotten a lot stricter
than before. They have been cracking down on people who are abusing their rules. “Action taken can
be anything from a warning all the way up to a permanent account ban” (Epic Games). They want to
make their message clear to the community, that this toxicity must end. In the past couple of months,
Fortnite has been quiet. People haven’t been experiencing the toxicity as they use to, on a rare
occasion someone will run into a troll seeking attention (Business Insider). “Fortnite has an XP
system, which is affected by how long the player has played, and how good the player’s match
outcome are” (Basra pg. 2). Basra has a solution to this problem he states that game developers can
easily use the XP system to introduce skill-based matchmaking, with players with higher XP to play
against each other. Making Fortnite have a fair system in its skill base matchmaking.

Evaluation: The problem with Fortnite is that, it has been stealing ideas for other games. Fortnite is
constantly innovating and finding new ways to make the game fresh, but competition can get a little
ridiculous, trying to stay up on top of the Battle Royale genre, and sometimes these game developers
will look to each other for answers. “Sometimes developers shamelessly copy and paste features
little to no change at all” (YouTube). Last September, Black Hole the game developer that makes
PUBG, might take legal action against Epic Games. Claiming that their game Fortnite, specifically
its Battle Royale mode was committing copyright infringement (Game Theory, YouTube). This isn’t
the only lawsuit that has been against Fortnite, other games like Apex Legends and HIZI have both
testified, that Fortnite is stealing ideas from their Battle Royale game modes. For example, in season
8 Fortnite put in a “new” feature which was a hologram of a player on top. It was a respawn system
which gave players a second chance, Fortnite’s community quickly realize this was a feature unique
to another popular Battle Royale game which is Apex Legends (Esf). This is proof that programmers
at Epic Games, needs to copy things from other games in order to keep their game alive and relevant.

Engagement: Fortnite is one of those games that offers addictive gameplay, well designed world
and free to play. Not to mention that there have been lawsuits about Fortnite being addictive as
cocaine (Mixmag). That should tell you how good the game is. Fortnite’s Battle Royale has been so
successful because its free to play. Players don’t need to splash any cash, to be able to battle against
their friends. Another attraction is that the game can do cross play, meaning that Xbox and
PlayStation player can compete against each other.
I’ve had so many good memories playing Fortnite. I have been playing Fortnite since its 2nd
season on the PS4, I remember learning all the different building and tactical techniques. I was
introduced to Fortnite when I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I saw an ad about a game
called ‘Fortnite’ I clicked it and it took me to a video where it showed other gamers playing the
game. I immediately fell in love with it, I loved it so much that I played it night and day. I became a
professional, in just under four months, I was so good at the game that I was in the top 100 best
players in the world, ranking in 15th place. I was so confident in myself that I even thought about
trying in a national tournament, of course this never happen since I was in High School during the
time. But that never stopped me, my friends and I would skip class to go play at local tournaments,
with small prizes like iPads, $50 gift cards and sometimes the prize was $100. We would win most
of the time since most players were amateurs, overconfident in themselves. I remember we would
even play in school whenever we had a chance. And that summer year was the best! My friends and
I would play, 3 days a week from 11am to 5am. I remember I would be looking forward to that every
single night. We would use Discord to be able to call each other and all night we would share laughs
and stories, until we heard the birds chirping. Those hours felt like minutes, its hard to explain the
feeling but all I can say was that it was a good feeling. I couldn’t ask for a better squad, I mean we
were unstoppable, win after win. After a match was over, we would all say “okay one more game”
then the next game “okay last one” before I knew it, the sunlight was creeping through my blinds.
That’s when we all knew it was time to put down the remote and sleep for a few hours.
 Worked Cited

Arhan Basra. “Why so many dislike Fortnite” High School Esport league, 2019

Epicgames.Com, 2020.

Gilbert, Ben. "Over 45 Million People Are Playing A Bizarre Shooter That Pits 100 Players
Against Each Other In A Fight to The Death — Here's What's Going On". Business
Insider, 2018.

"Is Fortnite Stealing Content?". Esfstream Engineering Lab, 2020.

Luton, Will. "Why Can't People Stop Playing Fortnite?". The Guardian, 2018.

Saifi, Yousef. "How Many People Play Fortnite? Concurrent and Registered 2019 Player Count |
Fortnite Insider". Fortnite Insider, 2019.

Top5Gaming. Top 5 Things Fortnite COPIED from APEX LEGENDS! May 19, 2019

Williams, Harrison. "Fortnite Is as Addictive As Cocaine, According To A New Lawsuit".

Mixmag, 2019.